Expert thought

In view of the restrictive 2018 Luhansk People’s Republic statute, it is not surprising that some groups declined to apply for registration, while others were refused. The result is that many religious communities find themselves outside the law…. the 48 Baptist Union congregations have had to cease their activity altogether.

Religious Studies

In the context of recent events in the Orthodox world, disputes over the boundaries of church institutions often arise between the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Kyiv and Moscow. Ukraine accuses Russia of misappropriating the territory of the Kyiv Metropolis. In its turn, Moscow appeals to the fact that the ancient Kyiv Metropolis differs from the territory of modern Ukraine. RISU decided to clarify this topic, getting advice from historians. Based on this research, we prepared an infographic.

The first question that arises concerning Ukraine is this: with what right and based on which holy canons, does Russia today claim the ecclesiastical and administrative dependency of the Metropolis of Kyiv?

Calendar

Interchurch relations

During the second day of the conference “The Art of the Coexistence of Christians: History Lessons and Challenges of Today” held in Yalta on the initiative of the international group Reconciliation, the participants considered practical initiatives uniting Christians of various denominations.

The conference “The Art of the Coexistence of Christians: History Lessons and Challenges” brought together about thirty experts and practitioners from Ukraine, Belarus, Germany and Poland to discuss the practical dimension of Christian cooperation. The organizer of the meeting, which takes place October 4-6 in Yalta, is the international group Reconciliation in Europe.

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) Sviatoslav Shevchuk is of the opinion that without a dialogue with the Moscow Patriarchate, “it is impossible to stop the Russification of Ukraine and Ukrainophobia in Russia.”

The Administrator of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patrtiarchate (UOC-MP), Archbishop Antonii (Pakanych) of Boryspil met with a professor of the Roma Tre University, Secretary General of the Community of St. Egidio, Adriano Roccucci in the Kyiv cave Monastery on 5 July.

In the village Orlyne (Crimea) representatives of the Orthotox community destroyed the tent with religious books establised by the Seventh-Day Adventists Hope Channel. As we see on the video posted on YouTube on June 26 and raised a storm of comments in social networks among Ukrainian protestants.

The site Orthodoxy in Ukraine on June 15 released material in which the deputy head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), Fr. Mykolai Danylevych, accused Greek Catholics in concealing their religious identity during the establishment of new parishes in the Khmelnytsky region and proselytism in central and eastern regions of Ukraine.

Patriarch Sviatoslav was asked by journalist from the Polish news agency KAI about the relationship between the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and how to establish a dialogue between these churches.

Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) believes that the only difference between the UOC-Moscow Patriarchate and Kyivan Patriarchate is that the Kyiv Patriarchate has not yet been recognized by other national Orthodox Churches. However, this phenomenon is temporary, because sooner or later the Ukrainian Churches will unite.

Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church sent a greeting letter to Metropolitan Volodymyr of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his ministry in the Kyiv cathedra.

The Executive Committee of the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy prohibited the Church of Grace of the All-Ukrainian Union of Associations of Evangelical Christian Baptists to conduct children’s events “Joyful Playground.”

On 31 May-2 June, an International Scholarly Conference “2nd Vatican Council: Gifts of the Spirit – Church Mystery – Human Testimony” will be held at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv on occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 2nd Vatican Council.

During his recent visit to Bukovyna Region, Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) expressed an opinion that an independent autocephalous Church will be established in Ukraine only when the Ukrainian state becomes strong.

During his visit to the Bukovyna region, Patriarch Filaret commented to our RISU correspondent Yurii Chornei that anouncements on the walls of churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) equate people baptized in the Kyivan Patriarchate with people who have committed suicide and thus who are not to be prayed for.

Representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) are convinced that deprivation of the UOC-Moscow Patriarchate’s status of independence and self-government would turn it into a puppet of the Russian Church and state power.

On March 21, the head of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) of Ukraine, Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki visited Metropolitan Volodymyr of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate in the hospital in Kyiv.